On
Monday night, November the 19th, I was lucky enough to participate
in a Daily News Charities sponsored hurricane Sandy relief benefit show. I was in a short one act titled
“Toothbrush” written by Kristen Lucas and co-starred Jeremy Hamilton.

Last
month I worked with Kristen on her feature length play “Dating” that was apart
of the Thespis festival. The
following week, she hosted a sketch comedy event in which I also participated.

A
week ago I was visiting family in Western Pennsylvania. Kristen reached out for available
actors for the benefit show. Even
though the show was only a week away, the piece was relatively short.

Knowing
Kristen and her work, I wrote to her saying I was available and interested. I
got the part and we began rehearsals in New York the day I returned.

The
play was basically a dialogue that required deep trust and familiarity from the
actors. I hadn’t worked with
Jeremy before, but we quickly struck up a friendship. We studied and rehearsed
through the week. Due to my hectic work schedule, rehearsals were sometimes in odd
places, like public atriums in midtown late at night. I believe the play was
successful because of our camaraderie.

By
Monday afternoon, we were fairly comfortable with our roles and we met early to
go over the lines once again. Tech
rehearsal was at 5.30pm at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre, across the street
from the Port Authority.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Yesterday, I went back to my apartment to get some clean clothes. Between the transformer blowing and flooding, my neighborhood, Alphabet City, was hit hard by the hurricane Sandy on Monday night. I spent the rest of the week staying on a friend's couch on the Upper East Side.

The city was truly divided, not just between those that had power and those that didn't, but also between those that were surviving the after effects of the worst storm in a century and those that saw the storm as an inconvenience to their life.

As I wandering my neighborhood in the chilly air, many people were out on the streets, cleaning, talking, just not being inside. Being trapped in an apartment at night with only candle light becomes very tedious after awhile.

I walked down East third street to see if there was any damage. I came upon a group of 'neighborhood' guys standing in a circle outside one of the local projects, laughing loudly and being very demonstrative. As I got closer, I saw a guy giving haircuts to someone sitting on a stool while the others waited for their turn.

The clippers were hooked up to the car's battery. The barber was holding court outside as if he was inside his shop. The guys laughed really hard. One of them said, "You know, hurricane Sandy or not, I got to keep my shit tight!"